milliemary's review
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
4.25
circlesofflame's review against another edition
3.0
I felt a little let down by this collection, after hearing such great things about the author and their previous collection. The characters felt very real to me and it was an easy read, but the stories seemed to bleed into each other and certainly weren't as Gothic and unnerving as the blurb had made me believe. These are human stories about people who feel realistic. If I'd known that going in, I would have been primed for character-focused stories and probably would have enjoyed this much more.
flossibunda's review
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
2.5
debc's review against another edition
5.0
'There is a Cornwall that is not shown on the postcards'.
This collection of stories really capture the atmosphere of Cornwall away from the tourist places but with creepy, spooky and unsettling themes. Very atmospheric, I could feel the places and sense the landscape. The sea is constantly present. A good descriptive writing style and a great skill of creating relatable characters in just a few pages. I enjoyed all of these stories and will definitely read more by this author. Some stories definitely stayed with me.
One Foot in Front of the Other - very eery and still. I found myself having to walk through a field full of cows on my way to the beach in Beadnell, Northumberland, just a few days later. This story definitely resonated then!
Flotsam, Jetsam, Lagan, Derelict - felt like a suffocating warning about the cumulative impact humans are having on the oceans and the coast.
A Year of Buryings - a snapshot of life, endings and what people leave behind and how some people choose to remain with us.
By- the-Wind Sailors - for me this captured the seasonal transient nature of some of the population of Cornwall (tourism), how this has impacted on housing and what it means for those left behind.
Excellent collection of short stories for those who know and love Cornwall.
This collection of stories really capture the atmosphere of Cornwall away from the tourist places but with creepy, spooky and unsettling themes. Very atmospheric, I could feel the places and sense the landscape. The sea is constantly present. A good descriptive writing style and a great skill of creating relatable characters in just a few pages. I enjoyed all of these stories and will definitely read more by this author. Some stories definitely stayed with me.
One Foot in Front of the Other - very eery and still. I found myself having to walk through a field full of cows on my way to the beach in Beadnell, Northumberland, just a few days later. This story definitely resonated then!
Flotsam, Jetsam, Lagan, Derelict - felt like a suffocating warning about the cumulative impact humans are having on the oceans and the coast.
A Year of Buryings - a snapshot of life, endings and what people leave behind and how some people choose to remain with us.
By- the-Wind Sailors - for me this captured the seasonal transient nature of some of the population of Cornwall (tourism), how this has impacted on housing and what it means for those left behind.
Excellent collection of short stories for those who know and love Cornwall.
circlesofflame's review against another edition
3.0
I felt a little let down by this collection, after hearing such great things about the author and their previous collection. The characters felt very real to me and it was an easy read, but the stories seemed to bleed into each other and certainly weren't as Gothic and unnerving as the blurb had made me believe. These are human stories about people who feel realistic. If I'd known that going in, I would have been primed for character-focused stories and probably would have enjoyed this much more.
romanaromana's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
3.5
3.5 stars.
(Here are some trigger warnings. Nothing in this review).
It's difficult to review a short story collection when my opinions varied so much with every story. However, I will say that Lucy Wood's chosen themes and focus on the unseen, off-season version of Cornwall that most are unfamiliar with, remained intriguing throughout The Sing of the Shore. Equally, I was pleased with the amount of diversity in Wood's choice of characters - readers are introduced to a cast who range in age, interests and relationship to the area which was a definite strength of the collection.
Despite this, I was not so enthusiastic about every story in this collection. Wood starts strongly, following young Ivor and his friends as they explore abandoned holiday homes during winter. She also ends strongly with the tale of two siblings reuniting in adulthood at the caravan park where they grew up.
I struggled with a couple of the shortest stories - 'Way the Hell Out' and 'Cables'. Both of these are dominated by dialogue, creating the illusion that the story has two narrators who are sharing the lines of a storybook. Not only did this technique dislocate me from the story, but I also struggled to understand the point of these characters framing what I thought to be the more interesting narrative.
Overall, I was pretty pleased with The Sing of the Shore. It definitely gave me lots to think about, what with its unique perspectives, as well as a particularly strong story - 'Flotsam, Jetsam, Lagan, Derelict' - which highlighted the environmental issue of plastic pollution in the ocean.
(Here are some trigger warnings. Nothing in this review).
It's difficult to review a short story collection when my opinions varied so much with every story. However, I will say that Lucy Wood's chosen themes and focus on the unseen, off-season version of Cornwall that most are unfamiliar with, remained intriguing throughout The Sing of the Shore. Equally, I was pleased with the amount of diversity in Wood's choice of characters - readers are introduced to a cast who range in age, interests and relationship to the area which was a definite strength of the collection.
Despite this, I was not so enthusiastic about every story in this collection. Wood starts strongly, following young Ivor and his friends as they explore abandoned holiday homes during winter. She also ends strongly with the tale of two siblings reuniting in adulthood at the caravan park where they grew up.
I struggled with a couple of the shortest stories - 'Way the Hell Out' and 'Cables'. Both of these are dominated by dialogue, creating the illusion that the story has two narrators who are sharing the lines of a storybook. Not only did this technique dislocate me from the story, but I also struggled to understand the point of these characters framing what I thought to be the more interesting narrative.
Overall, I was pretty pleased with The Sing of the Shore. It definitely gave me lots to think about, what with its unique perspectives, as well as a particularly strong story - 'Flotsam, Jetsam, Lagan, Derelict' - which highlighted the environmental issue of plastic pollution in the ocean.
maccymacd's review against another edition
3.0
I think 'Diving Belles' was a hard book to beat. Lucy Wood captured the strange, eerie and melancholic world of Cornwall with all its myths and wonders to a point. I went days where I couldn't stop thinking of the stories. Here, in 'The Sing of the Shore' she has tried to follow this up. Most of the stories are interesting, and link each other very faintly, however they don't seem to have the same strangeness as the previous book. I enjoyed the book as a compilation of short stories, but I couldn't rate it as highly for the unique weirdness I had felt in the earlier collection. The stories involve people who are lost. who are grieving, who are lonely, who are angry and who are outsiders, but they all have a similar connection. I think I would read another of Lucy Wood's collections if she wrote one, to see what the contrast between the books would be - I still think she is a very talented writer.
bumble_abi's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
etakaria's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0